Roswell UFO Incident Gets Its Own Google Doodle

The legend of Roswell lives on, and this week the famous UFO incident gets a nod from Google on the occasion of its 66th anniversary, courtesy of a Google Doodle interactive mini-game. Google has some fun with the legendary UFO crash, giving users a chance to gather scattered pieces of the alien ship and solve a challenge.

In the first week of July 1947, an unidentified flying object reportedly crashed in Roswell, New Mexico. The UFO wreckage was discovered by William Brazel, a foreman working on a nearby ranch. Brazel informed the sheriff, who then told officials stationed at Roswell Army Air Field, reports Huffington Post. Among the most iconic images stemming from the Roswell UFO incident is that of Jesse Marcel, an intelligence officer assigned to recover the debris, posing with the wreckage. In the photo, Marcel is seen holding the alleged debris, which resembled sheets of aluminum foil, and first reports of the wreckage include references to metal beams with strange symbols on them.

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Marcel was interviewed by the Roswell Daily Record and the newspaper’s headline, “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region,” is another iconic image of the Roswell UFO incident. That story was quickly debunked as another release from the military indicated the debris recovered from the crash site was that of a weather balloon. Later reports stated alien bodies were recovered from the crash site along with the spacecraft. Through the years the myth and legend surrounding the Roswell UFO incident has led to museums dedicated to the event as well as annual pilgrimages to the town.

The U.S. Air Force made a final statement on the Roswell incident in July 1994, claiming the debris was from a balloon being used as part of the MOGUL project, a nonclassified research project. The reports of recovered alien bodies were likely due to test dummies that were attached to the weather balloons, according to the Air Force report.

Despite the official statement, the legend of the Roswell UFO incident lives on, and the Google Doodle is another celebration of the event. In the point-and-click adventure, users guide the alien through the ranch to recover pieces of the downed spacecraft. Users will have to solve puzzles to get items that will be useful in the challenge. At the end of the Google Doodle, the alien’s spacecraft is fixed and flies off to its home planet.